1.Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to cymbals for making music and more particularly to an electronic high-hat cymbal controller.
2. Background of the Related Art
Electronic drum sets generally consist of controllers whose look and feel emulates the instruments of an acoustic drum set and electronic sound generators which take input from these controllers and produce electronically synthesized drum set sounds.
A typical electronic drum set will include some number of “electronic cymbals”, that is, controllers whose shape and design makes them suitable for emulating the playing characteristics of various acoustic cymbals.
One important cymbal type is the high-hat. An acoustic high-hat consists of two cymbals mounted in a stand with a foot pedal. The cymbals are mounted with the concave sides facing each other and the upper cymbal can be moved down and up by pressing and releasing the foot pedal. Typically, the top cymbal is struck by the performer and the resulting sound varies, depending on whether the upper cymbal is down and in contact with the lower cymbal (referred to as closed) or up and not in contact (referred to as open). Subtle effects in timbre are available to the performer with the hi-hat cymbal partially closed (nearly touching), lightly closed, closed hard and with the upper cymbals struck in such a way that it swings down and strikes the lower cymbal. In addition, the hi-hat cymbal can be made to “speak” by pressing the pedal quickly and holding it closed (often called a “tchk” or “chik”) and by pressing the pedal till the cymbals touch and releasing quickly (referred to as a “foot splash” or “pedal splash”).
In current practice, the electronic implementation of a high-hat cymbal controller typically takes the form of two controllers, one that emulates the upper cymbal and one that emulates the action of the foot pedal.
The upper cymbal controller is similar to the controllers for other cymbals. In the simplest form, it has a sensor, typically a piezo-electric device, which indicates how hard the cymbal has been struck. It is possible, as with other cymbals, to add additional detectors to indicate where the cymbal has been struck (bell, bow or edge). It is also possible, as with other cymbals, to add a detector that will detect a choke. On cymbals that are not a high-hat pair, this is often a membrane switch that detects the performer damping the cymbal vibration with his hand. Typically, the lower cymbal of the acoustic high-hat pair is not present in an electronic drum set.
The foot pedal controller frequently takes the form of a stand-alone foot-pedal, completely separated from the cymbal(s). This device detects how far the pedal is depressed by the performer and sends this data to the drum synthesizer.
The completely separate electronic foot pedal has a number of deficiencies. First, since the pedal does not move the upper cymbal up or down, the playing feel of the high-hat is quite different from the acoustic instrument it is meant to emulate. Second, the feel of the foot pedal itself is quite different from that of an acoustic high-hat cymbal. An acoustic high-hat cymbal has a spring, which can be emulated by a stand-alone pedal. The acoustic high-hat pedal also moves the mass of the upper cymbal and control shaft, which is not emulated by a stand-alone pedal. Furthermore, the feel of the cymbals touching and compressing is poorly emulated by the stand-alone foot pedal.
Finally, the visual presentation of the separated cymbal and stand-alone pedal pair is quite different from an acoustic high-hat.
A number of manufacturers have sought to address these deficiencies by mounting a single electronic cymbal controller on an acoustic high-hat stand. While this approach is an improvement over the stand-alone pedal, a number of deficiencies remain.
In particular, a single cymbal plays differently than two cymbals. When an acoustic high-hat is open, the upper cymbal swings freely when struck. When it closes, this swinging motion is suppressed and the resulting stiffness increases as the cymbals are further pressed together.
In addition, existing products require either a custom high-hat stand or a complete separate electronic drum set with an existing high-hat stand. For the drummer who switches between his electronic set (often a practice set) and acoustic set, this adds cost or inconvenience.